A disposable period underwear line needs names before it needs artwork. Three naming layers are involved: the SKU name, the absorbency tier name and the pack format name. Buyers often fix the artwork first and the names later. That order creates rework, because a size grid or a tier label printed on a pack is also a value in the factory's order sheet.
This page sets out the freeze point we use in a private label project: the stage after which a name change is opened as a new record rather than applied as an edit. It also lists what a buyer should send at each step, so the naming work can happen in parallel with the specification rather than after it.
| Layer | What is named | Owned by | Freeze gate | Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SKU name | size code inside a size set | Buyer merchandising | G-1 before artwork | S-01 |
| Tier name | absorbency tier label in a range | Buyer technical contact | G-2 before sampling | S-02 |
| Pack format name | pack count wording | Buyer merchandising | G-3 before print approval | S-03 |
| Carton wording | outer carton text | Buyer logistics | G-3 before print approval | S-04 |
| Region wording | US or UK shelf noun | Buyer regional lead | G-1 before artwork | S-05 |
Three naming layers: SKU, absorbency tier, pack format
S-01 names the size codes in a set. S-02 names the tiers in a range. S-03 names the pack format as it appears on a retail pack. The three are written by different people on the buyer side, and they close at different gates. Treating them as one naming task is the reason a tier label sometimes reaches artwork before the technical contact has approved it.
We also keep S-04, the carton text, and S-05, the regional shelf noun, in the same table. They are not SKU names, but they are printed values that must agree with them. A carton that carries a size wording different from S-01 will be noticed at goods receipt, which is the most expensive place for the difference to be found.
Why size grading is fixed before artwork
G-1 closes S-01 and S-05 before an artwork file is opened. A size set is agreed as a whole, not one code at a time, because the codes share tooling and a change to one can affect the others. Once a size grid is drawn, changing the set means redrawing it and reissuing every pack in the range.
Buyers sometimes send a size chart as an image in place of a written set. We transcribe it into S-01 and return the table for confirmation before G-1 is closed. That one round of confirmation is quicker than reconciling an image, a pack grid and an order sheet that were each produced from a slightly different reading of the same chart.
Region wording carried into the SKU name
S-05 is where regional wording enters the naming record. A US pack and a UK pack can share one size set, so S-01 stays common. The shelf noun does not, because the same brief is filed under different names in the two markets. S-05 therefore holds two values against one SKU set, each tied to the market it was approved for.
The wording columns themselves are explained on the regional wording page; this table only records which of those values has been frozen for the artwork in front of us. Keeping that single line in the naming record is enough to stop a UK noun being pasted into a US pack file during a later revision.
A naming freeze point before tooling
Three gates are dated. G-1 closes before artwork, G-2 before sampling and G-3 before print approval. A gate is closed only when the fields it covers have a written value and a named owner. An open field is recorded as open; it is not filled from a similar project or from an earlier pack in the same range.
The dates are not lead times. They are points in the project file after which a change is handled as a record rather than an edit. That distinction matters because an edit leaves no trace of the earlier value, while a record keeps both versions available for comparison at review and at a repeat order.
What a buyer should send the factory at each step
Five steps take a naming record from a blank table to a frozen set. Each step asks for one document, and each document is small. A buyer who can send all five at once is welcome to do so; the steps exist so that a partial submission can still be filed without guessing the rest.
Step 5 is the one most often skipped. Without a dated confirmation, a freeze point is a verbal agreement, and a later change has nothing to be compared against.
- Send the written size set for S-01 and the market noun for S-05.
- Send the tier labels for S-02 with the name of the technical owner.
- Send the pack count wording for S-03 and the carton text for S-04.
- Confirm which values are still open and who will close each one.
- File the dated confirmation as record S-C1 and close gate G-1.
Step numbers, gate codes and record codes are process identifiers. They are not quantities, prices or lead times.
Recording a name change after the freeze point
When a tier label changes after G-2, S-R1 is opened. The log names the layer, the old value, the new value, the gate that had already closed and the person who approved the change. The original record is not overwritten. Artwork, carton text and the order sheet are then checked against the new value one by one.
S-R1 is also where a change that turns out not to be a change is recorded. A buyer may ask whether a different wording for the same tier is acceptable; the answer can be no, and the log still holds the question. In our project files those closed questions have been useful at repeat order, when the same wording discussion returns with a new merchandising contact.
Where the same names appear again
A naming record is not retired at print approval. S-01 feeds the order sheet, S-03 feeds the carton plan, S-02 feeds the range structure and S-05 feeds the market-specific pack file. One table feeding four documents is what keeps them consistent; four documents written independently is what produces a size grid that disagrees with its carton.
If the buyer later opens a second market, a new S-05 value is added against the same size set rather than a new line being created. That is the practical value of freezing gates instead of freezing a whole project: the parts that can still move are allowed to move, in a record, without reopening the parts that cannot.
A worked naming record from G-1 to S-R1
A project opens with S-01 written as a size set and S-05 holding one market noun. Gate G-1 closes on a dated confirmation, record S-C1. Artwork is then drawn against those two values. At G-2 the buyer's technical contact supplies S-02 tier labels, and sampling is booked against the frozen S-01 set and the new S-02 values. At G-3, S-03 pack wording and S-04 carton text are confirmed before print approval.
Suppose a tier label is then revised. S-R1 is opened with the old label, the new label, the closed gate G-2 and the approver. The four documents that carry the label are checked in order: artwork, carton text, order sheet and range structure. S-01 is not touched, because nothing in the size set changed. The original S-C1 confirmation stays in the file as the value that was current when artwork was first drawn.
A repeat order six months later can therefore be quoted from the record without reconstructing the discussion. The current values are the frozen values plus any S-R1 entries that supersede them, and the older values remain visible for comparison. In our project files this has been the main benefit of naming gates: not that they prevent changes, but that they make a change explainable to someone who was not in the original email thread.
S-C1 and S-R1 are record identifiers. They are not revision numbers of the artwork file.
